Mongo Santamaria, Dizzy Gillespie & Toots Thielemans

The dalliance of jazz and Afro-Cuban rhythms ripened into lasting love in 1942. That's when Dizzy Gillespie wrote a piece called "Interlude," which later became known as "A Night in Tunisia." By 1946, with Gillespie educating American musicians in the rhythmic mysteries, jazz was becoming increasingly intimate with Latin idioms. The marriage was consummated in 1947 when the great Cuban conga drummer Chano Pozo joined Gillespie's big band. Pozo lived only a year longer, but… MORE